New and improved robot dragonfly!

Now this is pretty cool, though its bigger than a real dragon fly its still very small

Robotic dragonflies could be the next explorers on Mars, and a new design is already buzzing around on Earth. Developed by Festo, the mechanical insect exploits the unique mechanics of four-winged flight, allowing it to fly in all directions, hover in mid-air and glide without beating its wings. Each wing's motion can be fine-tuned by controlling its amplitude, flapping frequency and thrust - which is achieved by adjusting its tilt and twist. The team says a smartphone can act as a remote control to put the dragonfly almost anywhere in a given space. Although it appears to be considerably larger than a real dragonfly, the robot is light thanks to a carbon-fibre frame and flexible polymer shell. That structure holds a microcontroller, mechanical components, sensors and wireless modules, showing how different functions can be integrated and miniaturised.

I want a dozen please. I can program them to encircle my house and keep me safe from the real dragons (and flies).

Wonder if one goes out of control and, like our mothers always told us, takes someones eye out, if the company will be sued until they have to rely on robot mice to gather information (and their next meal).

I love dragonflies! This is a pretty cool idea, and although I'd love to have my own pet robot dragonfly... like any other tool, I can just imagine how it would be abused in the wrong hands.

If we can develop unmanned drones that fly here on Earth it is only a matter of time before propulsion advances enable humanity to send unmanned drones into space. The dragon fly reminded me of the documentary Alien Planet with two drones called Leo and Ike that were sent to the fictional setting of Darwin IV. Ultimately the behaviour of the drones caused the intelligent forms of life to misinterpret their gesture as an attack, and they were destroyed. With that said, assuming Mars is still uninhabited these small butterfly robots could cover more distance than the land rovers.